It�s a case of once I won�t even mention it, twice I�ll snark to my friends, and three times and I�ll risk starting an argument.

I�m talking about my mother and television.

There are very few shows I�m so wedded to watching that I won�t answer the phone if it rings while they�re on. In fact, I�m not sure there�s one. Some I�ll hit record on the video before I pick up the phone, then turn off the TV and go and watch the rest of the show later. And I don�t remotely mind that the person has called. Not everyone watches what I watch, not everyone cares.

But then someone does what my mother has increasing started doing. Which is to call, talk for several minutes, usually just generally catching up, and then ask:

�So, are you watching [insert show name here]?�
�Yes, I am.� Slightly terse tone, but I have resisted saying �I was.�
�So am I.�

Really? You are? Then why are you calling me in the middle of it to talk aimlessly?

As I said, the first couple of times that happened I moved on without even starting an argument. Without getting the full-on �tone�.

Until tonight. Tonight in Aus was the final of Friends. Yes, it�s only Friends, no it�s not as good as it used to be, yes they�ve dragged out showing the ending for so long it�s ridiculous, yes, it originally aired in the rest of the world so long ago you�d have to be in a coma not to know how it ends. But I still wanted to watch it.

Now Channel 9, in its infinite wisdom, elected to show a half-hour clip show hosted by some annoying local station representative before the actual show, in the time slot that the actual show has occupied for the last 9 years. (Trivia: In one of its more moronic decisions Channel 7 bought the first series of Friends back in 1994 and didn�t think it would work, so it didn�t pick up the second series.)

About four minutes into to the pre-show �special�, right after it became clear that the actual show wouldn�t start for some time, my phone rang. It was Betty, who opened with �Hi, this is your mother calling in the middle of Friends.�

About four minutes before the end of the pre-social �special� the phone rang again. This time it was my mother. Now, in her defence she did call to tell me that Christmas Eve dinner has been booked at a Japanese restaurant about fifteen minutes from my apartment, which is a huge improvement on last year.

But about three minutes into our conversation - I was watching the TV with the sound muted and could see that the �special� was still going but winding up with multiple shots of the cast hugging - she asked the question: �So, are you watching Friends?�

I could no longer resist.

�I will be. It hasn�t started yet, if it had I wouldn�t have answered the phone.�
�I�m watching it now.�
�No, you�re watching the crappy pre-show.�
�Oh, really?�
�Yes, otherwise I wouldn�t have answered the phone. You can�t say you�re watching something and then call me in the middle.�
�Okay. I think it�s starting now.�
�Yes, so I�m going to go now.�
�So am I, I�m going to watch the show.�
�Okay, Talk to you later.�
�Have a good week.�

And, as a side note, even though it was totally and completely predictable in every respect, I was still much more moved by the ending of Friends than I was by the somewhat hollow ending to Sex and the City which Channel 9 finally showed here last week. Maybe it was because they all actually liked each other?